Philogyny First: Female Artists Heat Up Winter

I probably don’t need to open this post with a lengthy, serpentinely worded commentary or critique on how the generally befuddling, definitively unseemly, ethically incongruous, historically anomalous morass of tawdry affairs that characterizes the current status quo of the transfer of power at the executive level of the government of our United States of America gets increasingly awkward, mentally cumbersome and phenomenally embarrassing from one day to the next, and in accelerating modes that seem only to heat up as daylight wanes and temperatures cool.

So I won’t.

Heating up just as quickly and increasingly, however, have been artists’ and art-world responses to all of the same, from politically inflected exhibitions popping up here and there, to benefits and fundraisers aimed at gathering resources for institutions and organizations whose futures might be jeopardized with the coming administration.

These are not only popping up in NYC, to be sure. But there are a lot of them in the works right here, and right now.

And there happens to be a particularly large and vociferous group among NYC artists and arts organizers leading important initiatives on a number of fronts:

WOMEN.

So here are some notes about several female-first exhibits, gatherings and related events that are already planned and soon-to-open, or that are yet in the making and might need your input or participation.

Philogyny and philanthropy in the face of philistinism.

Take note, mark calendars accordingly.

(Image at top: Nasty Women meeting. Photo by Mark Barnett.)

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NASTY WOMEN EXHIBITIONS

Launched into existence and made quickly viral via a simple Facebook post by Brooklyn artists Roxanne Jackson and Jessamyn Fiore, NASTY WOMEN soon went from a basic idea for a group exhibit to an organizational and informational platform for all kinds of women’s-rights-related initiatives.

And it’s not only local to NYC. Via their almost immediately crafted website, the NASTY WOMEN organizers are open to expanding their platform to interested parties far and wide. Their main criterion is inclusiveness, and all proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood. In the organizers’ own words: “We welcome anyone who identifies with being a Nasty Woman, and we want this exhibition to include a spectacular diverse rainbow of Nasty Women, so please please please spread the word!”

Their show opens on January 12th at The Knockdown Center in Maspeth, Queens. If you’re looking to get involved, just get in touch.

(Image courtesy SOHO20.)

ORGANIZING AT SOHO20

SOHO20’s very curatorial mandate pertains to placing female artists at the forefront, so it’s no surprise that this gallery’s members began to meet immediately to strategize shows, events and other actions. They gathered a couple weeks ago to discuss statuses quo, schedule additional meetings and rally troops for protests, and their next brainstorming and planning session is on December 11th. SOHO20 is located in the 56 Bogart building near the Morgan L stop. More information on their website here.

(Painting by Louise Fishman. Image courtesy Cheim & Read Gallery.)

#PUSSYPOWER

Curator, writer and professor Jennifer Samet has partnered with Michael David at David & Schweitzer Contemporary to co-curate this inspired, passionately conceived exhibition whose roster is so deep that you might wonder why it’s not at a museum. With big names like Carolee Schneeman, Yoko Ono, Ellen Cantor, Marilyn Minter and Louise Fishman mixed in with 40 or so other mid-career and emerging artists, #PUSSYPOWER will encompass a broad range of media and a great many aesthetic modes, moods and thematics. Protest signs will be incorporated into the show as well. Expressions like “huge vulvas” and “feline-themed costumes” factor into the press release. Expect this to be a lively one, and hope that it’s also a successful one—for part of the point is to donate funds to Planned Parenthood.

What you might like to know about is an easy way to get there. Well, Brooklyn artists Cibele Vieira and Nina Keneally already have that figured out for you, as they’ve lined up a bus service to get you and your crew there comfortably and in great creative company. Their Facebook page with schedule info and reservation details is here. Fill it up, make them get a second bus!

(Image courtesy Participant Gallery.)

EVE FOWLER AT PARTICIPANT GALLERY

Information about a very apropos exhibit came my way as I was putting together all of the above, so I thought I’d include a note about it here. It’s a solo show by Los Angeles artist and curator Eve Fowler, and it’s called with it which it as it if it is to be, and its keystone piece is a 16mm film in which Fowler visits the studios of a number of female artists in NYC and LA, and in which each artist contributes to the film’s voiceover by reading lines from Gertrude Stein’s Many Many Women. How’s that for germane? The exhibit opened just before the election, and it will be up for a few more weeks. It’s at Participant Gallery on the Lower East Side. More information here.